March 27, 2024
Tips and Resources for your Funding Applications
Are you planning to apply for our funding programs and need some information and tips? Here's a short guide for you.
We have put together some information, links, and videos which can help you on your journey, to understand the market for your game, and to keep in mind while preparing your pitch.
Market Analysis
For your Pitch Deck and your pitch, you will need information on target groups, the market and up-to-date information on sales numbers. With Steam as the most used digital sales platform for games, you will need to dive deep into the data and find out all that you can to deliver a solid market analysis for your game project.
SteamDB
SteamDB is a website that will give you insight into the Steam database. Get info on charts and filter by categories and genres. Find out about the current sales of the games you want to refer to or you want to get more insight about. This will help you understand the market for your game. Get all information here: https://steamdb.info
steamspy
You can get some additional (basic) information on sales, ranks and charts of Steam games at steamspy.com to further understand your market.
Marketing is NOT Why Most Indie Games Fail
In this video, Eastshade Studio shines a light on indie game marketing and shares some great insights on the topic. This is helpful to be aware that you have to do your market research well and to realize: the market for new indie games is very hard. If you want to stand out, you will have to be well-prepared before you even start the process.
Pitching
30 things I hate about your game pitch
Check out this GDC Talk by Game On The Rails's Brian Upton. He describes 30 counterproductive things that you should avoid when pitching your game, for example using the wrong genre for your game, failed proof of concept, no idea about monetization, and many more:
This will help you understand the importance of preparation, research, and being realistic with the team involved and the scope of the game. Keep it short and simple, don't dwell on details that do not benefit the pitch or your game presentation, like elaborating on "standard" features or a huge backstory. Talk about what makes your game unique, the hook, and who would buy this game, and why. Learn more in the video.
More tips
GameDiscoverCo Newsletter - Visibility and Discoverability
The GameDiscoverCo Newsletter was founded by Simon Carless, author of "How people find your game" and expert on all things discoverability and more. In this newsletter, he will provide insights and deep dives into how games did or did not gain visibility, reached certain successes or failed, and how people buy what kind of games. You can find out about current changes in the market, more insights on charts, and the numbers and analysis behind successful games.
Neat tips and regular updates here: https://newsletter.gamediscover.co/
Free Online Academy for Self-employed
The Online Academy for the self-employed by Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft offers you all the knowledge you need about self-employment. Simply explained and available at any time for free. Several videos can help you along your way, for example on creating a finance and business plan and on project management.
All videos and the platform are in German.
Check it out: https://academy.kreativgesellschaft.org/
We wish you good luck on all your applications and pitches and hope you can use this information to improve your pitch. Don't be afraid to ask questions and get in contact with game devs who are already further along in their journey.
Join our Discord to connect and get updates in our Newsletter on upcoming events, like our annual Pitch Level Up and more.
Check out the Prototype Funding application website to get all the information on what you need to prepare beforehand: